


white winter hymnal

by enbyofdionysus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Apollo Will and Jason are brothers, Apollo's older than Will, Blow Jobs, But they're both Freshmen bc Apollo started late, Hand Jobs, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 03:43:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11455263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyofdionysus/pseuds/enbyofdionysus
Summary: There's a boy working at the library cafe and Apollo can't seem to get him out of his head.A College AU in which Apollo doesn't want to be at school, but his brother's hot RA might make it tolerable.





	white winter hymnal

“College life is terrible,” Apollo said, pulling his scarf tighter around his neck. It still wasn’t tight enough. He needed it to strangle himself until he successfully died, but the discomfort of being unable to breathe was ruining his plans.

“It’s not so bad,” Will said, reaching over and fixing it for him so it kept his neck warm just-so. They were on their way to the library and for some reason it was the only academic building on campus that didn’t have an underground tunnel leading to it.

The cold was harsh this year and the bitter chill was eating away at the tips of Apollo’s ears. He tried to keep his shivering to a minimum, though, since Will had told him to wear an adequate jacket but Apollo very much had wanted to look attractive rather than comfortable.

“Professor Wiltse wouldn’t give me an extension on my Irish Literature paper,” Apollo said, forlorn.

Will gave him a sympathetic look. His blond hair was tucked beneath a wool beanie and the size of his coat gave him the distinct appearance of a gray marshmallow. “So you had to pull an all-nighter?”

“Oh,” said Apollo. “No. So I actually had to read the book.”

Will let out a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. He shoved Apollo gently, careful of the ice but still chastising. “What was the point of coming to school if you were just going to skate through your classes?”

“The point was having a home to return to,” Apollo said, “obviously.”

And it was true.

Apollo didn’t feel he needed to go to college or, if he did, certainly not _this_ college. Apollo was a musician and his future took place on the stages set up in local bars and pubs. Really, he thought it a better investment not to go to college and to continue his job as a barista at _Olympic Donuts_. After all, college was for people who wanted careers in things that required degrees, like Will.

Will, who had wanted to be a doctor since he could walk. Will, who already had his future planned out up through graduate school. Will, who already had the top three hospitals picked out that he planned to apply to once he’d graduated from graduate school.

For Apollo himself, it felt like a waste of money. What was a degree in Music Therapy going to do for him if he didn’t really want to be a Music Therapist? The entire decision had been his father’s and without his consent.

“Do you want to end up on the street?” his father, a large formidable man named Jove, had asked him. Although they had had the discussion over breakfast, for some reason Apollo imagined Jove removing his tie from his neck after work when he thought back to the memory. His father, it seemed, was always coming home from work.

“But I won’t end up on the street,” Apollo had tentatively argued. His fingers had found the strands of the bracelets on his wrist. He gently pulled their twine. “ _Olympic_ has a really good 401K plan and--”

“I didn’t mean because of your job,” Jove said.

And suddenly the quiet threat became clear. If he didn’t go to college, his father would kick him out of the house.

“Alright,” Apollo had quietly agreed. “I’ll go where Artemis goes.”

“Your sister has chosen to go to Bethany,” Jove argued. “You’ll have to go somewhere else.”

While his father’s quiet threat had unnerved Apollo, it was the fact that his twin sister had decided to leave him behind to go somewhere he couldn’t follow that truly hurt. Yet, Apollo couldn’t quite blame her. She had always been somewhat closeted in High School while Apollo fucked both the Girl’s Varsity Volleyball team as well as the Boys’. It was only fair she get a shot at being herself.

“Yeah, well,” Will said now as they carefully made their way up the library steps. They were coated with salt, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous. “Maybe try a little harder so you don’t get kicked out.”

“What a tragedy that would be,” Apollo said.

Just inside the library was a small cafe with several tables. It was a quiet area, with several students immersed in books, notes, and papers. Soft music played over the speakers. Will took off his jacket and placed it over the back of one of the chairs.

“I’m gonna go grab my book from the front desk, okay?” he asked. Will had been adamant about ordering a particular medical textbook through the inter-library system and the book had come in that morning. “Can you get the coffee?”

Apollo offered him a two-finger salute and undid his scarf as his younger brother headed for the double-doors into the library’s center. For a moment, he considered taking off his own jacket, but he was still cold and the jacket itself was thin. He left it on as he headed over to the counter, tugging a bit self-consciously at the hem.

He knew Will’s coffee order by heart, having had to buy several of them during midterm week when Will had become less like a person and more like a machine, and so he was mostly looking up at the menu for himself when he caught sight of the man behind the counter.

Apollo had to do a double-take.

The man -- boy, whichever -- was obviously a student. He was sitting on the side-counter behind the booth, away from sight from anyone who didn’t come directly to the register, reading a book on what seemed to be killer whales. A pair of blue earbuds were in his ears and he was mouthing along to whatever it was that was being said in them.

While he was distracted, Apollo took a moment to unabashedly run his eyes along his form. His jeans were torn along the knees and just slightly on the left thigh, giving Apollo glimpses of brown skin.

A soft, blue t-shirt peaked out from beneath a green apron and Apollo followed the lines of it up to the boy’s neck, the shape of his jaw, the soft slopes of his face. Somehow, he managed to look angry despite showing signs of being relaxed. His eyebrows were dark below a sea of black, tangled curls.

And when he glanced up at Apollo, his full-lips gently pursed around a silent consonant, Apollo nearly drowned in the abrupt vibrancy of his strangely green eyes.

The boy slid easily from the counter, pulling his headphones from his ears and twirling them around his fingers. “Hey,” he said. “Can I help you?”

His voice was nice, his tone welcoming, and so Apollo determined his angry expression to be a case of resting-bitch-face rather than true irritation.

“I…” Apollo began. He wasn’t often caught unaware by the attractiveness of a person. Apollo himself was usually the one taking others by surprise, enchanting them with flirtations and luring them back to his dorm room or the nearest bathroom stall. Whichever was closest.

The boy tilted his head in almost a dog-like way. As if Apollo had spoken and he hadn’t quite heard him. “You okay there, dude?”

Apollo choked. “Fine,” he said. Then, “Can I have a medium vanilla coffee with two creams and three shots of espresso?”

The boy tapped at the screen at the register. When his eyes swept back up to Apollo, he felt as if he’d been punched. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, um,” Apollo stammered. “Can I also get… Shit. Uh.” He’d forgotten to look at the menu. His eyes darted to it now, but he was distracted by the boy’s eyes on his face. The register was on his left side. Was that his good side? Had the scarf rendered his face red? Was he sweating? “Can I have a medium hazelnut coffee?”

“Cream and sugar?” the boy asked.

Apollo replied, “Yes.”

The boy stared at him.

Apollo died inside. “I… Two please. Of each. I mean-- Two and two.”

The boy nodded. Was he smiling? Fuck.

“Anything else?”

“A blueberry scone, please,” Apollo said. He tugged at his jacket hem, suddenly aware of the five pounds he’d put on since the beginning of the school year.

“I’m _fat_ ,” Apollo had lamented when he’d stood on the scale in their dorm two weeks ago.

Will had looked confused, staring up at him from his bed. “You’re average,” he said.

“That’s worse!”

Will had solemnly shaken his head. “Relax, you look fine.”

Apollo had thrown him a dangerous look. “I didn’t say I _didn’t_ look fine,” he’d snapped. “I said I was  _fat_.”

Now, Apollo felt self-conscious of every fashion choice he’d made that day. The leather jacket wasn’t really his style and it probably showed. Blonds looked odd in leather jackets, the Internet had said, but Apollo had decided it was wrong when he’d bought it. But now, in hindsight, it was probably right.

The hot guy at the counter probably thought he looked terrible. Who wore flimsy faux-leather jackets in the dead of Winter? Vain Jabba-the-Hut lookalikes named Apollo Grace, that’s who.

He felt close to tears as he swept his debit card in the reader and the boy at the counter hadn’t so much as looked at him wrong.

Apollo watched as the boy went further back and began making Will’s coffee. His fingers were fast, but graceful, and within a few minutes he was sliding his coffee and Will’s across the counter and was reaching behind the glass for the scone.

Apollo noticed he picked the slightly larger one and immediately Apollo wished he had left his scarf on in order to cover the 27 chins he had grown over the period of three seconds.

The boy placed the scone on a small paper plate, unaware of Apollo’s sudden physical development and offered Apollo a small smile. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” Apollo said. “You too.”

And then immediately wanted to die.

The boy’s eyes crinkled as his smile grew. “It’s fine,” he said, reading Apollo’s expression. “I do it all the time.”

Apollo nodded, squishing his lips into an awkward not-really-smile, and then disappeared back to the table. Will had returned, looking bright and happy and beautiful, a general sponge of all of the good genes in the Grace family that had left Apollo with absolutely nothing but large pores and 27 chins.

“Here’s your coffee,” he said bitterly, placing it on the table.

Will misinterpreted his bitterness and took the coffee with characteristic enthusiasm. “Why so grumpy?” he asked. “Did Percy turn you down?”

Apollo frowned, confused. “Who?”

“Percy Jackson,” Will said and gestured to the cashier at the cafe counter. Apollo glanced over at him again. The boy had gone back to his book, but he didn’t really look angry anymore. There was an overall pleasantness to his face now as if something had put him in a good mood. “He’s Jason’s RA.”

“His name is Percy?” Apollo asked. Suddenly, he felt better about himself knowing that the HotBoy™ had the name of a 60-year-old man.

“Yeah,” Will said. “And,” he added, “he’s single.”

Apollo slid into his chair. “But is he straight?”

“Nico seems to think so,” said Will. “But I’m not so sure.”

“Why’s that?”

Will tapped the side of his face near his eyes. “I’ve seem him check out some people before.”

Apollo’s interest piqued. “Who?”

Will took a sip of his coffee, grinning just a little. “You.”

**

Apollo began to frequent the library more often. The soft chatter of the cafe created a stimulating enough environment for him to focus on his literature classes. And, of course, there was Percy.

Apollo learned that he worked at the library cafe Monday through Thursday although his schedule was chaotic as he had classes of his own. Will silently judged him every time he glanced up from his book for class, which may have been once or five times every page, but it was like trying to keep his eyes away from the ice cream area in the dining hall.

Will had told him that he couldn’t really call it a crush since Apollo had barely spoken to him, but Apollo didn’t really care. He hadn’t had crushes on the others he’d slept with either; they were just pretty faces that he enjoyed watching while he took them apart with his tongue. Still, Percy had a kind of beauty to him that was surreal in contrast to his personality.

Personally, Apollo thought he should be like Jason. Popular, athletic, privileged, with girls and boys and those outside and inbetween fanning over themselves for him. But instead, Percy hung out with lesser-known artsy kids like Rachel Dare and Annabeth Chase.

He gnawed on pencils as he read at the counter, headphones in his ears and a fidget cube in his left hand. He was snarky to his friends and kind to Freshmen and once Apollo had witnessed him make a tiny gasp when the school brought in therapy dogs to the library.

He was… surprising.

“You should talk to him,” Will told him one day after winter break. It was colder now that it was January, a fact that Apollo always seemed to find unfair, and they both had to remove several layers of clothing in order to be comfortable in the warmth of the cafe.

Apollo made a face. “I _do_ talk to him.”

“No,” Will argued and pointed a pen at him as he took it from his snow-covered bookbag. “You order coffee. I mean you need to have a genuine conversation.”

“A genuine--?” Apollo scoffed and looked over his shoulder at Percy. He’d recently gotten a haircut and his black curls were cropped closer to his partially shaved head. Rachel was at the counter, her jeans covered in paint, and she was saying something that was making Percy laugh. Abruptly, Apollo felt weak in the knees. “I couldn’t.”

“Why not?” Will asked. Then, “Do you want me to?”

Apollo spun so fast he nearly fell out of his chair. “No,” he said. “Absolutely not.”

Will frowned. “Since when do you get nervous? He’s just a guy.”

But that wasn’t true. At least, not to Apollo. For some reason, the idea of flirting with Percy Jackson felt an awful lot like when Apollo was eight years old, chubby and shy, and had had a crush on the most beautiful boy in the world: Hyacinthus Collias. Hyacinthus was fast on the soccer field and he was good at math and he had great big dimples when he smiled. Apollo had had the courage to talk to him once and had scrawled on a Valentine’s Day card that he liked the boy’s smile.

But Bryce Lawrence had snatched the card before Hyacinthus could respond and with a horrible smile, his meaty little hands ripped the card and he promptly called Apollo a faggot.

And while Hyacinthus had no part to play in the shaming of Apollo’s feelings, part of him still feared that when he went up to Percy someone would come by and slap the coffee out of his hands and make fun of his…

Crush.

Apollo closed the book he’d taken out from his bag and stood from the table. “I’m going back to the dorm.”

Will stared at him like he had two heads. “We just got here.”

Apollo pulled on his jacket, his coat, and then his scarf.

“Apollo?” Will asked, suddenly worried.

But Apollo was already leaving the cafe.

**

“I think I have a crush on your RA,” Apollo said.

“Which one?” Jason asked. He didn’t even look up from where he was putting gel in his hair. He was going on a date with someone named Piper and Apollo had to admit for once he looked cute in his glasses and not like some nerdy version of Rocky that a Dr. Frankenfurter had forged in a twink laboratory.

Jason’s dorm was slightly smaller than Apollo’s, since he was older and could live in a single dorm, but it was definitely nicer. The paint on the East side of the O’Connor building wasn’t peeling along the walls like it did on the West .

Jason has also been able to prop his dorm bed up several notches so he was able to slide storage under his bed. Apollo had tried to do the same thing, but Will talked him out of it after watching him struggle to get on the mattress for 25 minutes.

Apollo was still unable to get there so instead of sitting on Jason’s bed, he sat at his desk chair, watching him get ready in the tiny bathroom. Apollo answered, “Percy.”

Jason shot him a knowing glance.

“ _What?_ ”

“Nothing,” Jason said, running his fingers to the left of his hair, then right again, then left again. He couldn’t seem to get the bed-head look just right. “I just should have expected it.”

“Why? Is he a babe magnet or something?”

“That would have to make you a babe, so no.”

Apollo flicked him off.

“I mean… I don’t know. He’s cute. It’s understandable, I guess.”

“He’s--? I thought you were the only straight one in the family.”

Jason was unprovoked. “I am,” he said, “but I’m not blind.” He turned and looked at Apollo, his blond locks ruffled nicely. “Does this outfit look stupid with my glasses?”

“No,” Apollo said, “it looks good.”

“I shouldn’t wear my contacts?”

“You’d look like a dudebro with your contacts.”

Jason made a noise of assent and went to put on his boots.

“So,” began Apollo, “what should I do?”

“With what?” asked Jason.

“With Percy. Do you know what he likes? Do you know if he likes guys? Do you know if he likes a certain type of guy?”

Jason made a face. “Please don’t embarrass me.”

“Rude. Just tell me what he likes.”

“I don’t know. He’s a Marine Biology major. He’s got on an internship in Florida next year to study sharks. Uh. He likes alternative music, I think. He’s on the swim team.”

“This doesn’t tell me anything,” Apollo said, “except that if I sprayed him with water he might grow gills.”

Jason shrugged. “You could talk to him.”

“I’m trying,” Apollo said. “That’s why I’m talking to you.”

Jason grabbed his jacket from the closet and slung it over his shoulders. “Funny,” he said, “because I’d call that procrastinating.”

“I’m just trying not to embarrass myself.”

Jason stopped moving. Turned. Looked at him. His voice, suddenly soft, asked, “Are you okay?”

Apollo shifted. “I’m fine.”

“Since when do  you care about embarrassing yourself?”

“I always care about embarrassing myself.”

“Sure, but you never vocalize it.”

Apollo snorted. “Sorry, I’ll keep it to myself from now on.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Jason took a step towards him and leaned against his bedpost. “You’re usually super confident about flirting with people. At the Halloween party, you actually asked a girl if she fell from Heaven. And somehow, I don’t know how, it worked.”

Apollo waved a hand. “Pick up lines work differently when you’re attractive. Not that you would know.”

Jason rolled his eyes, seeing right through him. “And it won’t work on Percy why?”

Apollo picked up a pen from Jason’s desk and tapped it against the wood. It had a cap, but it resembled a push-pen. He tried to pull the cap from the end of it and found it secure. So it was a push-pen after all.

“You won’t ask him out because you think he’s hotter than you?”

Apollo stared at the floor.

Jason sighed. “That’s the dumbest…”

“Jason,” Apollo said and looked at him, dismayed. “Have you seen him?”

“Yes, obviously.”

“No, Jason, have you _seen_ him?”

Jason gave him a look. “I think you’re more infatuated with his face than you are with him. So please, for the love of god, have some kind of conversation with the guy so you can determine if he really is this beautiful demigod you seem to think he is or if he’s just an asshole in disguise.”

“Is he?” Apollo asked.

“What?”

“An asshole.”

Jason shook his head and pushed off the bed post. He grabbed his gloves from the floor. “You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself.”

“ _Jason_.”

“ _Apollo_.” Jason turned, pulling his gloves on. “Talk to him. Infatuation isn’t good for anyone.”

Apollo gave a grandiose sigh and sagged against the chair. When he finally looked away from the ceiling, the door was ajar and Jason was gone.

**

“Come on, Will,” Apollo muttered to himself. His cell phone rang, rang, rang, but there was no answer.

Irritated, he started to text him a series of cactus emojis. This was the second time he had been locked out of his dorm room after a shower and he didn’t want to become that guy who always called campus security while naked. Granted, he had a towel wrapped around his waist, but still.

After five minutes of nothing, Apollo gave a sigh and sagged against the door. He heard footsteps somewhere down the hall and he made a grand effort not to look their way. It was common enough to see people in their towels on the way to the bathrooms, but Apollo was very obviously not on his way to the bathroom.

He scrolled through his phone for the campus security number, feeling his hair drip cool water onto his shoulders and slide down his neck.

“Hey.”

Apollo looked up, expecting to see his brother, and suddenly froze when he followed the voice to a familiar boy down the hall. Percy was standing with a shower caddy in his hands, a green towel tied around his waist that made his skin glow beautifully under the flourescent lights. He was a vision, something out of a cheesy porn that somehow managed to have wonderful cinematography.

Apollo, having been aware of his own nudity, was suddenly very _much_ aware of his own nudity. He lowered his phone and slid his own shower caddy slowly over his stomach. “Hey,” he said.

Percy began walking toward him as if the entire encounter wasn’t strange. As if he spoke to people in towels all the time. As if he spoke to people in towels while wearing a towel all the time.

 _He’s on the swim team_ , Jason had said. So maybe that part was true.

Still, Apollo felt his skin turning red the closer Percy got, the more confidently he walked as if he were wearing jeans and his cock wasn’t hanging heavy and loose beneath a sheet of fabric.

“You locked out?” Percy asked.

“I--” Apollo stammered. “Yeah. I-- Left my key in my room by accident. What--” He licked his lips. “What are you doing on this side of O’Connor?”

“Showers were full on the East side,” Percy said, nonchalantly looking through his shower caddy until he produced a key. He slid it easily into the lock of Apollo’s door and pushed it open. “There you go.”

“Thanks,” Apollo said.

Percy offered a smile and turned to leave.

“Wait,” blurted Apollo, although he very much wanted to watch Percy leave -- he noticed dimples pressed into the low of his back.

Percy turned, blinking curiously at him.

He really was lovely, but as Jason had said infatuation didn’t do anyone good.

But Apollo was good at getting to know people relatively quickly. The intimate sides of people anyway. Most people did the real kind of talking after an orgasm had been pulled from them.

 _You’re usually super confident_ , Jason had said.

And he was right.

Apollo was.

So he took his fear.

And buried it deep.

Deep.

And pulled on his self-certainty like a second skin.

Apollo felt a smirk slide across his lips. He leaned against his doorframe. Cocky. Arrogant. “Your towel’s looking a little tight,” he said. He took a step back into the room. “If you want, I could loosen it for you.”

Percy stared at him silently. Astonished.

He laughed, a short gust of a sound, but not cruelly. He looked down the hall, then back at Apollo, his smile disbelieving.

“Are you…?” But the question died in his throat. He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and looked around again, then back at Apollo. “Are you serious?”

Apollo stared at him and reached down. _Relax_ , he told himself. _You’re beautiful and everyone loves you_. He tugged on his towel and in one swift movement it slid to the floor.

Percy’s breath audibly stopped. His eyes held onto Apollo’s cock, then moved to the left, then back to his cock, then to Apollo’s tender stomach, his chest, his shoulders, his cock, his left, Apollo’s face.

Apollo raised his eyebrows.

Percy swallowed.

And then let himself into the dorm.

And closed the door behind him.

**

“I’ve only been with one other guy,” Percy said as if to excuse something, but Apollo didn’t need excuses. Percy’s lips tasted as great as they looked. His skin was a bit salty, possibly the reason he was going for the shower, but Apollo welcome it all the same.

He had been right. Percy was, by no means, the stereotypical arrogant jock that typically came with his looks. He was, however, incredibly responsive.

He let Apollo take the lead, but not passively by any means. His hands didn’t seem to know what to do with themselves and they routinely went from the sides of Apollo’s face to his hair to his chest to his hips. Apollo kissed him, trying to sate his hunger, his excitement, but it only made Percy let out a soft moan that had Apollo trembling down to his toes.

“Fuck,” Percy hissed as Apollo pulled away from him and down to his neck, pressing him up against the space of wall between his bed and his desk. His towel sagged on his hips, then fell to the floor and it took all of Apollo’s power not to back up just enough to look at him in all his glory.

“Beautiful,” he breathed against Percy’s neck.

He heard a snort-laugh above him as Percy said, “Shut up.” And then a hand yanked him up by his hair and Apollo’s lips were pressed once more against Percy’s, incessant and hungry.

It was Apollo’s turn to groan, his hands sliding down over Percy’s chest. Percy’s skin was soft even as Apollo’s fingers grazed a series of blemishes on his shoulders. Small, black hairs dusted his stomach, tapering down before fanning out again only to be cut through by a thick cock of relative medium size.

It fit perfectly in Apollo’s hand.

“Please,” Percy sighed against his ear, against his cheek.

 _Oh_ , Apollo thought. _He begs_.

But now wasn’t the time to play with that fact. Now was the time to make Percy melt against him, to make small whines crawl from his throat as he twisted his hand up, down, and around the head just so. Now was the time to press his nose into Percy’s ear, to tug on the lobe with his teeth, to shudder as Percy’s own hands fumbled for him awkwardly, but persistently.

Percy’s hand was tight on him, almost painfully so, but his touch had a destination in mind whereas Apollo’s was about the journey.

“Come on,” Percy sighed against him, his hips jerking rhythmically.

“Finishing already?” Apollo asked, grinning against the underside of his jaw. He reached down and swatted at Percy’s hand to get him off and then sank down to his knees. His favorite place to be. “You’re a lot more impatient than I thought.”

Percy’s brain seemed to short-circuit at the sight of Apollo on his knees. And then his hands immediately pressed themselves to his mouth as Apollo ducked his head and took him into his mouth.

 _He’s loud_ , Apollo thought.

Percy was choking back moans even with his hands over his mouth.

It was the hottest thing Apollo had ever heard.

He wanted to close his eyes, to focus solely on the taste of Percy’s cock alone, but he very much enjoyed seeing Percy’s face -- the pinch of his eyebrows, the crinkles of his eyes -- as he took him down, down to the back of his throat and then back out again. He spent much of his time on the head, which he noticed made Percy’s thighs tremble just so, and when he ran his tongue long and flat along the underside slowly, slowly, Percy spilled over the edge.

**

“You were intimidated by me?” Percy asked.

Apollo bit the end off a twizzler and gently smacked Percy in the face with it. “You’re an intimidating person.” They were laying on Apollo’s bed, soft and relaxed. The sun was beginning to set, casting the room in shadows. Percy was wearing his sweatshirt and a pair of Will’s pants. It was a charming look, even if they were too small for him.

“All I did was take your coffee order,” Percy said with a laugh.

Apollo shrugged. “I felt threatened by your coffee skills.”

Percy laughed again, this time rich with humor.

Apollo liked it immensely.

Percy’s black curls had become mussed and frizzy and in the poor lighting of the room he seemed very much mortal, but in a way that was settling. He waited until Percy quieted again before asking, “Do you want to go on a date sometime?”

Percy’s green eyes found his and held them. That disbelieving smile was back as it had been in the hallway. “You mean you want to see me after this?”

Apollo frowned. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well,” Percy said and half-shrugged. He really did look good in Apollo’s sweatshirt. “Don’t get mad, but you have kind of a reputation on campus.”

“Of being good in bed or being a dick? Because I never left before any of them woke up. I’m not a jerk like that.”

Percy laughed again. “I meant that you sleep with people, but don’t date them.”

“Oh,” Apollo said. “Well, that’s true.”

Percy made a noise. “And I’m different how?”

Apollo thought about it. Then he admitted, “You make me nervous.”

“And that makes you want to take someone on a date?”

Apollo thought of that too. “Yes,” he decided, “it does.” He turned to look at him. “I haven’t met many people who can make me speechless.”

“Well,” Percy said, propping his head up with his hand. “I haven’t met many people who can pull me into a room and suck me off.”

Apollo grinned. “Lucky me.”

Percy laughed, his eyes closing so his lashes fanned delicately across his cheeks.

Perhaps college life, Apollo thought, wasn’t so terrible after all.


End file.
